Archive for June 2012

Make your own gloops and doughs for sensory play

There are endless possibilities for creating an exciting and enjoyable sensory play day for your child. Utilising your Trabasack Sensory Play Tray as a stable and secure surface to work from, you can really create anything you want. We previously looked at playing with water and ice, here we’ve collected some fun and safe ideas for creating your own dough. Fantastic for squelching, squashing and even (in some cases) tasting. Creating a range of doughs with different consistencies and properties is a great way of introducing different textures and feelings to your child and your Trabasack is the perfect platform to begin from.

Preparing your Trabasack

Use your non-slip Trabasack mat to keep the surface clean

This could get messy so remember to use your Trabasack non-slip mat to keep it clean and fresh. The mat wipes clean and if you do have any spillages remember you can simply put your play tray in the washing machine and it’ll be like new within a short spin. Of course, ensure the Trabasack is safely secured to your child’s buggy, wheelchair or safely around their waist and then the fun can begin.

Preparing your Doughs

There are literally hundreds of dough recipes out there and we thought we’d get together a few that are quite different from each other, to give the widest range of textures, colours and different sensory experiences:

Clean Mud: 1 bar of soap, 1 roll of toilet paper, 4 litres of water (makes a lot)
Layer the toilet paper in a tub, grate the soap on top and then add the water, mix up, leave overnight and you can squish and squash to your heart’s content in the morning

Fruity Putty: 1 packet of jelly powder, 250g flour, 1 tbsp cooking oil, 2 tbsp hot water – cook this all up in a pan to create a colourful, jelly ball of putty

Corn Flour Dough: 125g corn flour, 125ml warm water, 1 tbsp natural/baby oil – cook this up in a pan, choosing an oil with a strong flavour to add the additional aroma to the sensory experience. This produces a shiny, slick dough.

Play Time

With these three doughs, with their very different consistencies you can create shapes, balls, patties, whatever you want and your child can feel the different properties and enjoy the whole experience fully. These are just three of many doughs out there but they create a great range of different sensory experiences including the pleasant aroma of the corn flour dough, the sticky mess of the clean mud and of course, the bright colours of the fruit putty. We wouldn’t recommend you eat any of these products but they won’t cause you any harm and if you’re more interested in edible doughs, there are plenty out there.

There is a useful video with another recipe for coloured doughs here:

Using your Trabasack play tray as a base for exploring different sticky substances is a great way of enjoying your sensory time and it’s so quick and easy it’s really worth giving a go. For those of you who want to cheat, click here!

Free ideas for sensory play: Water and Ice

We know about the value of sensory play for children with special educational needs and have looked at homemade sensory toys in another article. We will now look a more free ideas for entertaining your child. Your Trabasack Sensory Play Tray can be used innovatively to introduce many different sensory experiences to your children and it’s perfectly designed to allow for fun and messy play as well as more scripted and controlled sessions. Why not consider using your Trabasack to introduce your child to water and ice and experience the differences?

Water and Ice Play

Trabasack Non-Slip Mat protects your play tray

Utilising a Trabasack Non-Slip Mat, you can protect your Trabasack’s soft surface and ensure it is secured around your child’s waist, to their buggy or to their wheelchair, wherever you choose to play. Once everything’s in place the fun can begin.

What you’ll need:

Ice Cubes

Small Tub of Water

Crushed Ice

You could also add in winter themed or water themed toys such as small boats or plastic toy animals.

Introducing each element individually, guide your child to feel and experience the differences between the three substances. Loads of fun can be had splashing in the water, trying to pick up ice cubes and you could even make mini snowballs out of the crushed ice. The secure Trabasack surface means you won’t have to worry about anything getting dropped. You could create a snowy winter scene with crushed ice mountains or try floating the ice cubes in your tub of water. The fun that can be had with ice and water is really vast and it’s a great way of introducing a range of different sensory experiences to your child.

Benefits of Water and Ice Play

Investigate the properties of ice

If you’re considering using water and ice in an educational setting, you can show children the differences between the two substances and give them the opportunity to feel these differences in their own time and it’s like having your own water play table in a safe, reachable difference. The Trabasack surface is protected by its non-slip mat and you can be sure your child will be having tons of fun and experiencing something beneficial to their development, understanding and of course entertainment.

Your Trabasack play tray really is an extremely flexible accessory which you can use in many ways to enhance and further your child’s sensory experiences.